An Appeal
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■ f 128
1.65
a .C5 ns
Hcopv 1 For the Preservation of
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CITY HALL PARK
NEW YORK
with
A Brief History of the Park
The American
Scenic and Historic Preservation Society
Tribune Building, New York
April, igio
•'^•>^0,-,(AN Oi"^.^
An Appeal
for the Preservation of
CITY HALL PARK
NEW YORK
with
A Brief History of the Park
The American
Scenic and Historic Preservation Society
Tribune Building, New York
April, igio
®f)e American
)cenic anb J^isftoric ^resJerbation ^ocietp
tKribune ^uiltring, i^eto |9orfe
J. PIERPONT MORGAN, LL.D.
^resfibent
GEORGE F. KUNZ, Ph.D., Sc.D.
^iceBresiibents!
Hon. GEORGE W. PERKINS HENRY M. LEIPZIGER, Ph.D.
Hon. CHARLES S. FRANCIS Col. HENRY W. SACKETT
Ereafiurer Counsel
Hon. N. TAYLOR PHILLIPS HENRY E. GREGORY
Xanb^cape iarcijitect
Hon. SAMUEL PARSONS
^ecretarp
EDWARD HAGAMAN HALL, L.H.D
Erusiteesf
EDWARD D. ADAMS, LL.D. Hon. THOMAS H. LEE
Prof. L. H. BAILEY HENRY M. LEIPZIGER, Ph.D.
REGINALD PELHAM BOLTON OGDEN P. LETCHWORTH
Com. HERBERT L. BRIDGMAN HIRAM J. MESSENGER
H. K. BUSH-BROWN J. PIERPONT MORGAN, LL.D
D. BRYSON DELAVAN, M.D. IRA K. MORRIS
PIoN. CHARLES M. DOW JOHN DE WITT MOVVRIS
Hon. CHARLES S. FRANCIS GORDON H. PECK
Hon. ROBERT L. FRYER Hon. GEORGE W. PERKINS
HENRY E. GREGORY Hon. N. TAYLOR PHILLIPS
ROCELLUS S. GUERNSEY Hon. THOMAS R. PROCTOR
FRANCIS WHITING HALSEY Hon. J. HAMPDEN ROBB
SAMUEL VERPLANCK HOFFMAN Col. HENRY W. SACKETT
Hon. WILLIAM B. HOWLAND CHARLES A. SPOFFORD
Hon. THOMAS P. KINGSFORD Hon. STEPHEN H. THAYER
GEORGE F. KUNZ, Ph.D., ScD. ALBERT ULLMAN
FREDERICKS. LAMB CHARLES D. VAIL, L.H.D
FRANK S. WITHERBEE
AN APPEAL FOR THE
PRESERVATION OF CITY HALL PARK
IN NEW YORK CITY
The American Scenic and Historic Preservation Society-
appeals to all public spirited citizens to use their influence to
prevent the appropriation of park space in City Hall Park, New
York, for an enlarged County Court-house, by addressing their
remonstrances to the Chairmen of the following Boards in
whose hands the decision of the question rests :
BOARD OF ESTIMATE AND APPORTIONMENT
His Honor William J. Gaynor, Mayor, as Chairman of the
Board, City Hall.
Hon. Wm. A. Prendergast, Controller, No. 280 Broadway.
Hon. George McAneny, President of Manhattan Borough,
City Hall.
Hon, Alfred E. Steers, President of Brooklyn Borough,
Borough Hall, Brooklyn.
Hon. Cyrus C. Miller, President of Bronx Borough, 3d
avenue and 177th street, Bronx.
Hon. Lawrence Gresser, President of Queens Borough,
Borough Hall, Long Island City.
Hon. George Cromwell, President of Richmond Borough,
Borough Hall, New Brighton.
Hon. John Purroy Mitchel, President of the Board of
Aldermen, City Hall.
COUNTY COURT-HOUSE BOARD
Hon. Morgan J. O'Brien, Chairjnan, 2 Rector street.
Hon. Edward M. Grout, iii Broadway.
L. Laflin Kellogg, Esq., 115 Broadway.
E. Clifford Potter, Esq., 137 Broadway.
Charles Strauss, Esq., Secretary, 141 Broadway.
The situation is as follows: City Hall Park, which fifty
years ago contained io% acres before the Postoffice site was
sold, now contains about 8^ acres. This space contains the
City Hall, the County Court-house at its rear facing Chambers
street; the City Court-house east of the latter; the kiosks
of the subway; the superstructures of the underground public
conveniences; a fountain and the statue of Nathan Hale.
The Court-house board now proposes to erect on the site
of the County Court-house an enormous structure extending
almost the entire distance along Chambers street from Broadway
to Centre street. If such a project be carried into execution,
It will greatly reduce the open space of what has been the
City Common for over two centuries;
It will encroach further than heretofore upon land made
sacred by venerated traditions of every period of our City's
history;
It will overshadow the City Hall, which is one of the archi-
tectural treasures of the City;
It will prevent the symmetrical architectural development
of a Civic Center around City Hall Park commensurate with
the dignity of the Metropolis of the New World and similar to
those of other large cities in America and Europe;
It will increase the congestion of traffic at a point already
greatly congested;
It will impair the City's financial credit by a confession of
past improvidence and by proclaiming that the city's financial
resources are at last so exhausted that it cannot afford to buy
a building site and must therefore consume its park space —
reserved for future generations — in order to house its courts;
And it will establish a precedent for still further encroach-
ments in this and other public parks, the ultimate effect of
which cannot be foreseen.
It is apparent that a crisis has arrived in which every public
spirited citizen, as he values the city's parks, should rally to
their defence.
For seven years successive Court-house Commissions have
been seeking a site for a larger building, considering at various
times sites in City Hall Park, Battery Park, Washington Square
and Union Square. Last year, when the Court-house Com-
mission appeared to favor placing the Court-house in Washing-
ton Square, this Society at its Annual Meeting Jan. 21, 1909,
adopted a resolution declaring "that in the opinion of this
Society, it is against the interests of the city and contrary to its
settled policy and the sentiment of the people that any part of a
public park should be used for a court-house or other municipal
building."
The Washington Square site was abandoned, and this year
the Court-house Board secured an amendment to the law
under which it is acting permitting it to locate the building in
City Hall Park. This plan has aroused the most earnest pro-
test from the public. Popular sentiment on this subject was
unmistakably manifested at the hearing before the Board of
Estimate and Apportionment in the City Hall on March i8,
1910, when the chamber was crowded almost to suffocation and
when the limits of the hearing did not suffice to allow all the
protestants to speak. At the present moment the Court-house
Board is considering alternative plans and will soon make final
recommendations to the Board of Estimate and Apportionment,
the final arbiters.
The objections of this Society are based on the ground that
the appropriation of public park space for a building is a viola-
tion of the principle upon which our public parks are created, is
contrary to public policy, and in the present instance is unneces-
sary as other sites are available. For 22 years persistent efforts
have been made to encroach upon City Hall Park for a public
building and for 22 years public opinion has successfully
resisted the effort. In 1888 the Legislature constituted a Com-
mission, "To select and locate a site, conveniently situated, in
the neighborhood of the County Court-house Building in said
City, but not in the City Hall Park,"' for a Municipal Building.
In 1889 the Legislature authorized this Commission to locate a
site within the City Hall Park, but public sentiment revolted
against it and in 1890 the Legislature again imposed upon the
commission the prohibition '■'■ but not i7i City Hall ParkP In 1892
the Legislature again authorized the selection of a site for a
municipal building in City Hall Park, and the intense indignation
which prevailed in that year and in 1894 compelled the abatidon-
ment of the project. Public sentiment is no less sensitive upon this
question today than it was then. In fact the agitation last year
which prevented the location of the Academy of Design on the
site of the Arsenal Building in Central Park, demonstrates how
jealous the people are of any diminution of their park area.
As the city finally found means to erect its municipal build-
ing on property which was not a public park, we believe that a
place can be found for the new Court-house without going into
a public park.
Within a period of thirty-five years and forty-three years
respectively, both the Post Office and Federal Court-house at
the south end of the Park and the County Court-house at the
north end have been outgrown, and there is every probability
that the new County Court-house proposed for City Hall Park
would be outgrown in an equal period and the city eventually
compelled to go elsewhere for a larger site or encroach still
further upon the park. It would therefore seem to be the
policy of wisdom to look at least fifty years ahead and provide
for future needs by locating the new Court-house, not only
where it will not encroach upon present park space, but also
where it will have room for future expansion.
The growth of population, the increase in the holding
capacity of the buildings and the augmented congestion at and
around City Hall Park counsel the removal of all buildings
from the Park except the City Hall itself, and the recovery of
the area occupied by the Post Office, rather than the establish-
ment of the principle that the city can use up its park areas for
building lots.
The following historical sketch of City Hall Park and its
buildings will serve to indicate the deep interest attaching to
this place and how deserving it is of preservation and restora-
tion.
AN HISTORICAL SKETCH OF
CITY HALL PARK
City Hall Park has been known at various periods as the
Vlacte or Flat, the Second Plains, the Common, the Fields, the
Green, the Square, the Park, and finally City Hall Park.
During the Dutch regime the Vlacte was part of the un-
appropriated lands of Manhattan Island and was used as a com-
mon for the pasturage of cattle.
Title Vests in the City
The title to this area was given to the Corporation of the
City of New York in 1686 by the terms of the Dongan Charter,
which says : " I do by these presents give and grant unto the
said Mayor, Aldermen and Commonalty of the said City of New
York all the waste vacant unpatented and unappropriated lands
lyeing and being within the said City of New York and on Man-
hattans Island aforesaid extending and reaching to the low water
mark," etc. At this period the Common was a wild, uncultivated
tract on the outskirts of civilization.
Delimitation of the Park
The outlining of the form of the Park was a process of
gradual evolution. The first boundary was made by the ram-
bling old Post Road, which came down approximately along the
line of the Bowery and Chatham street (now Park Row) to
Broadway, just south of the present post-office. This road fol-
lowed one of the routes designated in the act of June 19, 1703,
entitled "An act for the Laying out Regulateing Clearing and
Preserving Publick Comon highways thro'out this Colony."
The Commissioners appointed under this act filed their survey
June 16, 1707, laying out the road "to begin from the gate
at Spring Garden to Fresh Water, the course east by north."
The Spring Garden occupied the southern half of the site of the
present Saint Paul Building, which stands on the southern
corner of Ann street and Broadway. The new road was named
Chatham street in 1774.
The western boundary of the future park was indicated in
the first half of the eighteenth century by a farm road which,
running between the King's Farm on the west and the Common
on the east, extended from the junction of the Post Road with
Broadway at the present Vesey street northward to Anthony
Rutgers farm at about Worth street (formerly Anthony street).
On this road, extending along almost the entire length of the
present Park, was a rope-walk, which appears on a map of 1728
without the owner's name. This appears on a map of 1730 as
Dugdale & Searls' rope-walk, and on a map of 1742 as Van
Pelt's. It stood in what is now Broadway.
In 1760, 53 years after Chatham street was surveyed on
one side of the Common, Broadway (first called Great George
street) was surveyed on the other side. The Common Council
archives record that " Mr. Marschalk, one of the City Surveyors,
produced to this board the draft or plan of a road which
he hath lately laid out by direction of the Corporation, viz.,
beginning from the Spring Garden House where the street
is now of the breadth of 82 feet 6 inches, and extending from
thence north 37 degrees 30 minutes east until it comes to the
ground of the late Widow Rutgers, leaving the street thereof
50 feet in breadth, which is approved by this Board."
Between these two diverging highways, property bounda-
ries at and immediately north of the present Chambers street
were indefinite and the Common gradually merged into the
negroes' burial ground beyond. In June, 1796, the boundaries
were adjusted by the establishment of Chambers street, thus
completing substantially the triangular outline of the Park.
At the beginning of the last century the triangle at present
bounded by Centre street. Park Row and Chambers street was
a part of the Park area and constituted its northeast angle. In
1835 the Board of Aldermen voted that Centre street be opened
from Chatham to Pearl street 75 feet wide; and that the grounds
between Tryon Row and the old Hall of Records be thrown
open to the public and be made a part of Centre street. In 1852
the intersection of Chatham street (now Park Row) and Centre
street was widened, the railing and coping of the Park from the
Hall of Records northward being set back 9^ feet. From that
point to the south end of the Park the curb was also set back a
few feet ; and from time to time other alterations have been
made in the fence and curb lines. In 1867, as more fully stated
elsewhere, came the crowning disaster to the Park when the
southern end was cut off and sold to the Federal Government
for a post-office.
A Place of Execution
Returning now to the period prior to this delimitation when
the area thus included was a formless Common, we may recall
the uses to which it was successively devoted and trace its phy-
sical development to the Park of today.
During the latter part of the seventeenth and first half of
the eighteenth century this remote and unimproved tract was
considered an appropriate place for the expiation of capital
crimes. It is believed that Lieut. Gov. Leisler and his son-in-
law, Jacob Milborne, who were executed for alleged treason in
1691, were hanged on the Common nearly opposite the place of
their burial, which latter was on the Leisler estate on the east side
of Park Row, opposite the Park. Gallows were erected " at the
usual place of execution on the Commons " from time to time as
occasion required. Resolutions to that effect may be found in
the proceedings of the Common Council in December, 1725,
June, 1727, and doubtless many other dates. On Mays, 1756,
the Common Council ordered the gallows removed " to the place
where the negroes were burnt some five years ago at the foot of
the hill called Catiemuts Hill near the Fresh Water." The Fresh
Water was a pond on the site of the present City Prison and
Criminal Court building.
The First Building— 1728-1776
The first building within the area of the present park ap-
pears on the map of 1728 on the western margin of the Common
about opposite what is now Murray street. It stood in front of
the rope-walk, from which it was separated by an interval of
only 40 or 50 feet and to which it apparently belonged. This
or some other small building appears on this site up to the
building of the Bridewell in 1775.
The First Almshouse— 1736-1797
The first public building was an Almshouse, which was
erected in 1736 on the site of the present City Hall. To distin-
guish this building from its successor, we will call it the first
Almshouse. An advertisement in that year invites proposals
from suitable persons, stating the terms on which they will per-
form the duties of Keeper of the House of Correction and Over-
seer of the Poorhouse and Workhouse, Adjacent to the Alms-
house were two small outhouses. In 1757 a small piece of
ground, " of the length of two boards," to the eastward of the
Workhouse fence, was ordered to be enclosed for a burial place
for the poor of that institution. This Almshouse remained
standing until the second Almshouse was completed in its rear
in 1797, when it was demolished.
City Wall, Blockhouse and Fcnrder Magazine — 1745
In 1745, the year after France had declared war against
England, the citizens of New York, fearing an attack by the
French, put the city in a posture of defence. Among the forti-
fications erected was a wall of palisades, similar to that which
gave the name to Wall street. The second city wall, however,
was built farther north, beginning at Mr. Desbrosses' house (No.
57 Cherry street) and crossing the island in a zigzag course to
the North river near the foot of Chambers street. It was built
of cedar logs 14 feet long, and was perforated with loopholes
for musketry. Within the wall was a banquet four feet high and
four feet wide. Six blockhouses with portholes for cannon were
situated at commanding angles, and strong gateways were built
at the intersection of the wall with the Post Road, Broadway and
Greenwich road. One of these blockhouses and gateways was
in the angle of the wall at Broadway and Chambers street.
David Grim, who was living at the time when the wall was built,
has recorded that in 1746 a large party of Mohawk and Oneida
Indians came down the Hudson river in their canoes, landed
near the foot of Laight street, and passed through the Broadway
gate on iheir way to have an interview with Governor Clinton
on Bowling Green. About the time when the wall was erected,
a powder magazine was built on the Common a short distance
southeast of the Almshouse. The powder magazine appears on
Maerschalck's survey of 1755 and again on Montresor's survey
of 1775.
The New Gaol— Old Hall of Records — 1757-1903
In 1757 the Common Council appointed a committee to
purchase materials for a new gaol to be erected just east of the
first Almshouse on the Common, and instructed it to proceed
with all speed to construct the same. At that time and for
sev'eral years previously, the basement and garret of the old
City Hall, which stood at Wall and Nassau streets, on the site of
the present United States Sub-Treasury, had afforded ample
10
accommodations for transgressors of the law; but the city was
growing in wickedness as it was growing in population, and it
was decided to erect more commodious quarters on the Com-
mon. This building, which stood 135 feet east of the present
City Hall, and which, at the time of its demolition in 1903, was
the oldest municipal building in town, had a varied and stirring
history, being known at various periods as the New Gaol, the
Debtors' Prison, the Provost, the Register's Office, and lastly
the Hall of Records. Originally it was a square stone building
about 60 by 75 feet in size, three stories high and facing, as
the present City Hall faces, west of south.
The basement consisted of three rows of three arched vaults
each, varying from 15 by 19 feet to 18 by 28^ feet in size.
The arches were 9 feet high in the center, built of brick, and
rested on stone foundations 3 feet thick and stone piers 7 feet 8
inches square at the base. The partition walls of the cellar were
2 feet thick. There appear to have been no exterior openings
to these dungeons originally. The doorways connecting them
were closed with heavy doors. Above the ground the building
was constructed of rough stone three stories high. A picture of
the period shows the entrance in the middle of the first story on
the southwestern face, with two windows on either side, and
five windows each in the second and third stories. The side view
shows four windows in each story. The roof was square, with a
pediment and four dormer windows in tlie front view and four
dormer windows in the side view. Above the centre of the roof
arose a cupola which contained a bell. This bell was used to
give alarms of fire, the location of the fire being indicated at
night by a lantern suspended from a pole protruding from the
cupola toward the endangered quarter. The building is said to
have cost less than $12,000. It was the first one erected for ex-
clusive use as a jail. It was an imposing edifice in its day, and
standing, as it did, the most conspicuous object to the traveler as
he entered the town by the old Boston High Road, was a pow-
erful admonition to all comers to lead a sober, righteous and
upright life — and to pay their debts. The latter was by no means
the least important of its warnings, for in those days they had
not adopted the modern beneficent bankrupt law by which a
man can swear off his superfluous financial obligations and begin
life anew with a clean ledger, if not a clear conscience. At that
time the law permitted a creditor to cast a debtor into prison, a
proceeding which, if it curtailed the debtor's money-earning
capacity, at least gave the creditor the consolation to be derived
from the knowledge that he was not the only person suffering
inconvenience.
That there were many creditors ready to take that sort of
satisfaction is evident from the fact that the new gaol soon
came to be known as the Debtors' Prison. A notice in Gaines'
Gazette and Mercury of July 27, 1772, indicates that the public
hospitality extended by the gaol was not of the most comfort-
able kind, and was supplemented by the kind ofifices of a sympa-
thetic and "respectable publick." "The Debtors confined in
the Gaol of The City of New York " — so the notice runs — " im-
pressed with a grateful sense of the obligations they are under
to a respectable publick for the generous contributions that
have been made to them, beg leave to return their hearty
thanks, particularly to the worshipful the Corporation of The
City of New York, the reverend the Clergy of the English,
Dutch and Presbyterian Churches and their respective congre-
gations, by whose generous donations they have been comfort-
ably supported during the last winter and preserved from per-
ishing in a dreary prison with hunger and cold."
In 1764 the Common Council authorized the Committee on
the New Gaol to erect opposite the gaol a public whipping post,
stocks, cage and pillory " in such manner as they shall think
proper."
After the Revolutionary War the building continued to be
used as a city prison until 1830. By that time the city had come
to need better quarters for its public records, and a committee
of the Common Council selected the old gaol for such use. About
$15,000 was then spent in remodeling and refitting it. The orig-
inal three stories were transformed into two by changing the
floors and windows ; the cupola and the roof with its dormer
windows were removed and a fiat roof substituted, and the build-
ing was lengthened at each end about seventeen feet by the
addition of a Grecian portico and steps. The six columns of each
portico were of the Ionic order, and supported a perfectly plain
entablature and pediment. These changes having been made,
the rough stone exterior was nicely smoothed over with a uni-
form coating of stucco, and the whole transformation was
alleged to have given the one-time gaol something of the classic
beauty of the Doric Temple of Diana at Ephesus, one of the
12
Seven Wonders of the World. The result, however, was an archi-
tectural nondescript possessing neither the substantial simpli-
city of the original building nor any recognizable resemblance
to the beautiful heathen temple of the Goddess of the Silver Bow,
which it was supposed to imitate. The old bell that was used
to sound the primitive fire alarms was placed over the neigh-
boring Bridewell. When the Bridewell was removed, in 1838,
the bell continued to ring out its alarms from the roof of Naiad
Hose Company, in Beaver street, until, a short time later, it was
destroyed by the element against which for so many years it had
given its warnings.
In 1832, while the reconstruction was in progress, an epi-
demic of cholera broke out in the city, driving many of the in-
habitants to the outlying villages and paralyzing business. Dur-
ing the prevalence of the scourge, the work of remodeling the
gaol was suspended, and it was used temporarily for a hospital.
Upon the completion of the repairs it was occupied by mu-
nicipal offices and became the depository of the city records.
Within twenty-five years, however, even these accommodations
were outgrown, and in 1858 the Surrogate was obliged to move
to other quarters. In the following year the Street Commis-
sioner followed suit, and in 1869 the Comptroller evacuated,
after which time the building was in sole possession of the City
Register, and was known indifferently as the Register's Office
and the Hall of Records.
During the supremacy of the Tweed ring (some of whom
may well have desired to obliterate any possible suggestion of
the original character of the building), the city fathers spent
$140,000 more on the ancient gaol. Their " improvements " con-
sisted of the erection of another story above Diana's entabla-
ture and pediments, and the further enlargement of the interior
accommodations by the simple expedient of filling up the inter-
spaces between the columns of the southwestern portico so that
these columns were converted in appearance from pillars to
pilasters.
In 1897 the City Government made provision for the erec-
tion of the new Hall of Records on the north side of Chambers
street, and in December, 1897, the Board of Aldermen voted to
place the historic old building, when vacated, in the care of the
National Historical Museum for use as a public museum of his-
torical relics. Soon thereafter the underground rapid transit
13
tunnel was begun, and the Subway Commission, desiring to
locate one of its stations opposite the Brooklyn Bridge, applied
for the removal of the old Hall of Records. The demolition of
this old building, hallowed by the sufferings of American patri
ots during the Revolution and many other traditions, was ear-
nestly opposed by the American Scenic and Historic Preserva-
tion Society and other civic and patriotic organizations, and a
strong sentiment of opposition was also voiced in the press ; but
an application vi^as made to the Supreme Court for the removal
of the building on the affidavits of Inspectors of the Depart-
ment of Buildings alleging that the building was "unsafe " and
''dangerous to life" — a condition which was not apparent to others
who inspected the building at the time. After earnest argu-
ments in opposition, however, Justice Leventritt announced on
October lo, 1902, that he would issue an order for its demoli-
tion, and by April, 1903, the sunlight was shining into the un-
covered dungeons of the cellar in which Continental soldiers
had suffered for their country's sake.
The Upper Barracks— 1757-1790
In the same year (1757) in which the New Gaol was erected
some military barracks, known as the Upper Barracks to distin-
guish them from those at the Battery, were erected on the south
side of the present Chambers street partly on the site of the
present Court-houses. The Common Council records show that
the committee appointed to confer with the carpenters building
the barracks reported the following resolution :
Ordered, That the said building be forthwith carried on
under the direction and inspection of the above-named commit-
tee, who are hereby empowered to treat with such persons and
provide such materials for the carrying on and completing said
work as they shall judge proper ; and further ordered, that the
said building contain 20 rooms on a floor, two stories high, to
be 21 feet square, 420 feet long, and 21 feet wide, etc.
During the Revolution, to accommodate the increased num-
ber of the King's troops, two other long buildings were erected
between the Bridewell (which stood west of the first Almshouse)
and the original barracks on Chambers street. In 1784, the year
following the evacuation of the City by the British, the Barracks
were leased to various persons for residences. In 1790 the Com-
mon Council ordered that the Treasurer sell the Barracks before
April 20, the purchaser to remove all the materials by June i.
14
The Bridewell— 1775-1838
On March 17, 1775, the Common Council approved plans
for a new Bridewell drawn by Theophilus Hardenbrook. This
building was erected between the first Almshouse and Broadway
and was finished in April, 1776. This institution was erected
with the aid of a lottery, and the Treasurer of the City was au-
thorized to take 1,000 tickets of the lottery " on and for the risque
of the Corporation."
This building, which made some pretence of architectural
attractiveness, was built of dark gray stone. The central por-
tion, which had a pediment in front and rear, was three stories
high, while the wings were two stories high. It was used as a
prison for American soldiers during the Revolution. On Jan. 4,
1777, according to the authority of N. Murray, there were 800
men in the Bridewell, and to reduce their number it was alleged
that the doctors gave them poison powders.
The prison was demolished in 1838, and furnished some of
the material used in the Tombs Prison, which was then in course
of construction in Centre street. This application of building
material for a similar use, but in a different form, led David T.
Valentine to quote somewhat lamely Hamlet's remark to his
father's ghost: "Thus it is permitted to revisit the pale glimpses
of the moon."
The Second Almshouse — 1797-1857
In 1794 the Common Council resolved to apply to the
Legislature for leave to establish a lottery to raise |io,ooo for a
new Almshouse (which, by way of distinction, we will call the
second Almshouse) to take the place of the first one, which had
become ruinous and unfit for use. In 1796 it was resolved to
erect the second Almshouse to the north of the first house and
on the site now occupied by the County Court-house. In 1797
the second Almshouse was ready for occupation, and Mr. Harsen
was instructed to take down the first one. In 1812 the functions
of the Almshouse were transferred to the new buildings erected
for that purpose at Bellevue, and the vacated building, under
the name of the New York Institution, was devoted to various
enterprises of a public or semi-public nature. Among the vari-
ous institutions harbored therein were the New York Historical
Society, the Academy of Arts, the Academy of Painting under
charge of Alexander Robinson, the American Institute and the
15
City Library. John Scudder's American Museum moved into
the west end of the building in 1816. The Deaf and Dumb In-
stitute, incorporated in 1817, opened its school in this building
in 1818 and continued therein until 1828. The Lyceum of
Natural History, incorporated in 1818, also made its home there.
On March 26, 1818, the Chambers Street Savings Bank, the first
bank for savings, opened for business in the basement. In 1824
the first Egyptian mummy ever brought to this country was ex-
hibited here. In 1832 rooms were assigned in the building for
the use of the United States Courts. In 1857, a year of great
financial distress, the building was finally torn down, partly
to relieve distress by giving work to the unemployed.
The City Hall— 1803-1910
The next building in historical order erected in City Hall
Park was the City Hall itself. On the map of 1803 it appears
plotted on the site of the first Almshouse (its present location)
as "the new Court-house." The first City Hall or Stadt Huys
stood at No. 73 Pearl street. The second stood on the site of
the present United States Sub-Treasury at Nassau and Wall
streets.
The first foundation stone of the third and present City
Hall was laid by Mayor Edward Livingston, September 20, 1803,
when City Hall Park was on the outskirts of the city. The
plans were by Macomb & Mangin. The names of the building
committee, clerk, sculptor, architect, master stone cutter, master
masons and master carpenter are engraved on two marble slabs
now set up in the main corridor of the building as mural tablets.
The edifice is a beautiful structure in the style of the Italian
Renaissance, 215 feet long by 105 deep. The south front and
sides are of Stockbridge (Mass.) marble, but the rear was built
of brownstone from motives of economy and in the belief that
the city would not grow so as to extend to the northward of the
building. It cost something more than $500,000. When com-
pleted it was pronounced the finest public edifice in the United
States.
The city government first met in this City Hall on July 4,
1810, while it was yet uncompleted. The finishing touches were
not put on the building until 1812. (Further details concerning
the erection of the City Hall and the historical incidents con-
nected therewith may be found in the Ninth Annual Report
16
(1904) of the American Scenic and Historic Preservation
Society).
Dispensary and Fire Houses — 1817-1906
Upon the map of 1817 there appears at what would now be
the corner of Centre and Chambers streets, where until recently
a fire-house stood, a City Dispensary and Soup House, estab-
lished by the Almshouse Commissioners. A little later the
building was shared by the Dispensary and a Hook-and-Ladder
Co., such being the case in 1835. In June, 1859, contracts were
awarded for a new building to accommodate the steam fire
engines and for Engine Company No. 42. This was a temporary
frame building between the Hall of Records and the building
on the corner of Chambers and Centre streets. The corner site
appears to have been dedicated continuously to the uses of the
Fire Department, which occupied it with a succession of build-
ings until the last one was vacated Dec. 31, 1905, and was
demolished in March, 1906.
The Rotunda— i8i8-i87o
About the year i8t8 a building called the Rotunda was
erected on Chambers street east of the second Almshouse. At
the time of its removal in 1870 it stood between the present City
Court-house and the fire-engine house which was removed in
1906. There was no space between it and the City Court-house
on the west, and only an alley-way between it and the engine-
house on the east. The Rotunda, originally a circular, dome-
like structure, sometimes called the Round House, was erected
by subscription for an art gallery at the instance of John Van-
derlyn, the artist, to whom the city granted the use of the
ground free for a period of ten years upon condition that at the
end of that period the building should become the property of
the city. Panoramic views of the Battle of Waterloo, the Palace
and Garden of Versailles, the City of Mexico, etc., were among
the pictures represented. After the great fire in the lower part
of the city in 1835 the Post Office moved into the Rotunda and
continued there until 1845. On July 24, 1848, the Common
Council directed the New York Gallery of Fine Arts, which
then occupied the Rotunda, to vacate the premises within ten
days; and in August the sum of $2,000 was appropriated for the
purpose of converting the Rotunda into public offices. In the
course of time the exterior appearance of the building was
17
changed and its interior accommodations were enlarged by addi-
tions which squared it out on the north and south sides. On the
south side the addition of a portico with four Doric columns
gave it quite a classical aspect. When the newly created Board
of Park Commissioners entered upon their duties in May, 1870,
they gave City Hall Park particular attention, taking away the
old iron fence which surrounded the Park, removing the rub-
bish in the northwest corner left from the building of the
Count}^ Court-house, improving the unsightly conditions at the
south caused by the building of the Post Office, and removing
the Rotunda and an old fire-engine house in the northeast cor-
ner. At the time of its removal the Rotunda had been occupied
for 20 years by the Croton Aqueduct Board m company with
various othes municipal offices.
City Court-house— 1852-1910
On June 5, 1851, the Mayor approved a resolution awarding
contracts to the lowest bidders for a three story building to be
erected "between the new City Hall and the Rotunda for Court
rooms and offices, and that said building be completed on or
before the ist of May, 1852." At the same time, $96,716 was
appropriated for the erection of the building. This building,
mentioned in the old municipal registers as "No, 32 Chambers
Street," was erected on the west of and close to the Rotunda.
It is still standing bearing the inscription: "Erected A.D.
1852. William Adams, Commissioner; Job L. Black, Superin-
tendent Public Buildings." It is about 75 by 105 feet in size.
In 1904 an additional story was added, and it is now 4^ stories
high.
This building has variously been known as the Marine
Court, the Court of Sessions and the City Court.
The CouQty Court-house — 1861-1910
The County Court-house, which fronts on Chambers street
in the rear of the City Hall and the replacing of which is the
subject of the present public agitation, was begun in 1861 and
completed in 1867, but it was not then and it is not now com-
pleted. It is of Corinthian architecture, 3 stories high, 250 feet
long and 150 feet wide. Its walls are of Massachusetts white
marble. It was designed to be crovmed with a handsome dome,
the summit of which was to be 210 feet above the sidewalk.
Erected during the extravagant days of the Tweed Ring, after
18
It had been the medium of legitimate expenditures and illegiti-
mate peculations amounting to the enormous aggregate of $i6,-
000,000 the County stopped pouring money into this apparently
bottomless financial pit and left the building incomplete. It
has been variously occupied by state and county courts and
several city departments. One of the singular contrasts so
often encountered in history is presented by this building,
which, erected upon the site originally dedicated to the relief
of the poor as an Almshouse, cost, according to common esti-
mate, $16,000,000. This monumental piece of extravagance is
popularly known as the Tweed Court-house.
The Postoffice— 1875-1910
In 1867 the City committed the lamentable mistake of
parting with the southern end of City Hall Park for a United
States Postoffice and Court-house, and the present building was
occupied in 1875. As there appears to be in print no collated
data concerning the Postoffice in New York City, it may not
be inappropriate to give here a few facts concerning the estab-
lishment of the postal service as one catches occasional glimpses
of it in the various records.
Concerning the postal service during the Dutch period, we
have no data at hand. It is to be presumed that letters were
carried informally by travelers and captains of vessels at such
rates as the senders were willing to pay.
Early in the English regime the office of the Governor's
Secretary in the old Fort at the foot of Bowling Green appears
to have been the depository of the post " bagg" where letters
were received for despatch to their destination out of town.
Such was the case as early as 1672.
By letters patent granted by William and Mary under the
Great Seal of England, dated Feb. 17, 1691, to Thomas Neal,
the colonial postal service was established on a more systematic
basis. This patent gave to Neal and his successors authority
for 21 years to carry letters at such rales as the senders might
agree to give. Andrew Hamilton was deputed to act as Post-
master General for all their Majesties' Plantations and Colonies
and by an act of the Colonial Assembly passed Nov. 11, 1692,
was authorized to establish "a general Letter office" in the city
of New York "from which all Letter's and Pacquet's whatso-
ever may be with Speed and Expedition Sent into any part of
19
I I
CITY HALL PARK
NEW YORK
Oy SJivard Hayarrxarx Ho//. Apn,j l^tO
For explanation of Map see opposite page.
20
out Neighboring Collony's and plantations on tlie main Land
and Continent of America or to any otlier of their Majesties
Kingdom's and Dominions beyond the Sea's;" and he was
authorized to appoint "one Master of the Said generali Letter
office." The rates of postage were fixed at 9 pence for a single
letter to or from beyond the seas; 9 pence for a letter between
EXPLANATION OF MAP
The old Common was substantially identical with the triangle bounded by
Broadway, Chambers street and Park Row. The northeast corner was gradu-
ally worn off until, with the opening of Centre street, the Park was bounded by
Broadway, Chambers street, Centre street and Park Row. It thus remained
until 1867, when the Postoffice site was sold, since which time the Park has been
bounded by Broadway, Chambers street. Centre street, ParkRow and Mail
street (the latter the shortest street in the city).
i . Site of ancient burying ground for negroes, paupers and criminals and
for American patriots under British rule during the Revolution. 2. New Hall of
Records. 3, Site of barrier gate and blockhouse in angle of second City Wall
of palisades erected in 1746 (Maerschalck's survey, 1755). 4. Large broken
outline, 480 by 215 feet, plan of proposed new county Court-house. 5. Small
broken outline, pian of second almshouse, 1797-1857; also site of Upper
Barracks of larger extent 420 by 21 feet, 1757-1790. There were additional
Barracks between sites 5 and 16 during the Revolution. 6. Solid outline,
present County Court-house, begun 1861. 7. Present City Court-house, erected
1852. 8. Site of Rotunda, 1818-1870. 9. Site of dispensary and soup-house,
1817 and later; also of fire engine house, removed 1906. 10. New Municipal
Building in course of erection. I !. Site of temporary fire engine house built
1859. 12. Subway kiosks. 13. Approximate site of old State Arsenal; later,
Free School No. i, circa 1809. 14. Fortifications built by Americans in 1776
(Hills' survey, 1782 5). 15. Postal Telegraph Building, 253 Broadway; site of
Montagnie's Tavern, headquarters of Sons of Liberty, 1770 and earlier. 16.
Plan of Bridewell, 1775-1838 (Mangin's survey, 1804); a Revolutionary prison.
17. City Hall, begun 1803; site of first Almshouse, 1736-1797. 18. Site of Gaol,
the "Martyrs' Prison" of the Revolution, later Hall of Records, 1757-1903
(Mangin's survey). 19. Site of Powder Magazine (Maerschalck's survey 1755,
and Montresor's survey, 1775). 20. New York World Building. 21. Nathan
Hale Statue. 22. Approximate site of first building on the Common, early
i8th century. 23. Fountain, built 1871. 24. Statue of Benjamin Franklin
in Printing House Square. 25. New York Sun Building, built 1811, first per-
manent Tammany Hall. 26. Approximate site of grave of Jacob Leisler
as located on Grim's recollection map, but may have been a little farther
north. 27. New York Tribune Building; statue of Horace Greeley in
vestibule. 28. American Tract Society Building; site of Martiing's Tavern;
rendezvous of Sons of Liberty and "Martiing's Men"; Wigwam of Tammany
Society, 1798. 29. Building formerly occupied by New York Times. 30. Site
of Brick Presbyterian Church built 1768. 31. Site of Croton Water Fountain
in what WciS once part of City Hall Park; triangle is now occupied by United
States Post-office and Court-house. 32. Astor house, built 1834-38; site of
Drovers' Inn and other early hostelries. 33. Nos. 21,23,25 Park Row, site
of successive Park Theatres, 1798-1848, frontage of 78 feet on Park Row
and 85 feet on Theatre Alley. Part of this site (No. 21 Park Row) is now
occupied by the Park Row Building. 34. Saint Paul Building; southern half
of this property is site of Spring Garden House. On this property stood
Bicker's Tavern, bought by Sons of Liberty after they left Montagnie's and
named Hampden Hall Later site of Scudder's Museum and Barnum's Museum.
35. Saint Paul's Chapel, begun in 1764.
New York and Boston or between New York and Maryland; 12
pence between New York and Virginia, and 4^ pence between
New York and anyplace not exceeding 80 miles distance. This
law was renewed from time to time, with changes in the rates,
for several years.
For over a century — during the remainder of the English
regime and the beginning of the American — the Post-office
itself was an extremely rudimentary establishment, generally
maintained at the residence of the postmaster. It was also a
very nomadic institution, moving from place to place with the
changes of postmaster. The New York Gazette of July 30,
i753> for instance, gives notice that ''The Postoffice will be
removed on Thursday next to the house of Mr. Alexander
Golden opposite to the Bowling Green in the Broad-Way where
the Rev'd Mr. Pemberton lately lived."
The first postmaster of the city after the Revolution was
Sebastian Bauman, appointed by President Washington, and the
post-office was then located in his residence at the corner of
William street and Garden street (now Exchange Place). In
1807 the Postmaster was General Theodorus Bailey, who had
taken up his residence in the same house and continued the post-
office there. The post-office then consisted of a room about 25 or
30 feet deep, having two windows fronting on Garden street and
a little vestibule on William street containing about 100 boxes.
The post-office remained at the latter site until July 4. 1827,
when it was removed to the basement of the new Exchange in
Wall street, which had been opened May i of that year. The
Exchange was burned in the great fire of 1835. Then the post-
office was removed to the Rotunda in the northeastern corner of
City Hall Park. This location gave great dissatisfaction to
business men at that time on account of its great distance from
the business center of the town ! In 1845 the post-office
was removed from the Rotunda to the Middle Dutch Church,
which occupied the block on the eastern side of Nassau street
from Cedar street to Liberty street. Upon the building of the
Mutual Life Insurance Co, of New York, which now occupies
that site, is a tablet reading as follows : " Here stood the
Middle Dutch Church. Dedicated 1729. Made a British Mili-
tary Prison 1776. Restored 1790. Occupied as the United
States Postoffice 1845-1875. Taken down 1882. The Mutual
Life Insurance Co. of New York."
22
As early as 1853 the postoffice had become so inadequate
that the United States began to look around for a new site. In
April and May, 1857, the Mayor was authorized by the Common
Council to negotiate with the Federal authorities for the cession
of the land at the southern angle of the Park or a portion of
the upper part of the Park fronting Chambers street between
Broadway and Centre street, for a new Postoffice, but nothing
definite was effected and in 1861 came the interruption of the
Civil War.
Immediately after the War, efforts were renewed to find a
site, and the lower end of City Hall Park was chosen. On De-
cember 15, 17 and 18, 1866, respectively, the Councilmen, Alder-
men and Mayor of the City consented to the sale of the site
embracing an area of 65,259 square feet, for the purposes of a
United States Postoffice and Court-house. The property was
conveyed by the Mayor, Aldermen and Commonalty of the City
of New York, parties of the first part, to the United States of
America, parties of the second part, by deed dated April 11,
1867 (Liber 1012, page 142 et seq., of Conveyances, Hall of
Records), the consideration being the sum of $500,000. The
conveyance was made
"Upon the express condition, however, that the premises
above described and every part and parcel thereof, and any
building that may be erected thereon, shall at all times hereafter
be used and occupied exclusively as and for a postoffice and
court-house for the United States of America and for no other
purpose whatever, and upon the further condition that if the
said premises shall at any time or times cease to be used for the
purposes above-limited or for some one of them, or if the same
shall be used for any other purposes than those above specified,
the said premises hereby conveyed and all right, title, estate and
interest therein shall revert to and be revested in the said
parties of the first part, their successors and assigns, and the
said parties of the first part shall thereupon become the absolute
owners of the said premises and every part thereof with the
appurtenances and they may then re-enter the said premises and
forever thereafter use, occupy or alien the said premises and
every part thereof in the same manner and to the same extent
as if these presents had not been executed."
The erection of the postoffice was not begun at once and it
was proposed to use another part of the Park for the purpose.
On June 17, July 19 and July 20, 1869, respectively, the Alder-
men, Assistant Aldermen and Mayor approved of the following
resolution:
23
"Resolved that a joint committee of three members of each
Board be appointed by the respective Presidents thereof to con-
fer with Messrs. Horace Greeley, William Orton and Alexander
T. Stewart, Commissioners on the part of the United States,
respecting a proposed exchange of the 65,259 square feet of land
in the City Hall Park heretofore deeded by the City to the
United States for another plot of ground of similar area at a
different location in said Park, which proposed exchange has
been recently authorized to the City by the Legislature and
requested on behalf of the United States by the above-named
Commissioners."
The foregoing resolution is interesting as indicating the
names of the representatives of the United States Government
in the Postoffice matter, but it did not result in any change of
plan. The present postoffice was begun in 1870 and was first
occupied August 25, 1875. The building cost between ^6,000,000
and $7,000,000. This edifice, in turn, is already outgrown and
inadequate for the transaction of the business of the General
Postoffice, and a new postoffice in another part of the City is
being planned. In view of these plans, it is to be hoped that
the municipal authorities will bear in mind and enforce the con-
ditions of the deed to the United States, which provide that the
present Postoffice site shall revert to the City when any part of
it shall cease to be used for a United States Postoffice and Court-
house or shall be used for any other purpose. Indeed it is a
question whether the Federal Government's tenure has not
already been forfeited by the use of the building for a private
library, and we are informed that the Hon. George B. McClellan,
during his recent incumbency as Mayor of the City, gave notice
to the Federal Government of the latter's violation of the con-
ditions of the deed.
Building Propositions Rejected
Not every building proposed to be erected in City Hall Park
has materialized. On August 19, 1771,3 proposition to erect a
public market in the Fields was voted down by the Common
Council by a vote of 11 to 4. In October the proposition was
renewed, but was again voted down.
During Mayor Paulding's incumbency in 1824 it was pro-
posed to remove to the North River the Bridewell and Jail which
stood on either side of the City Hall and to construct two-story
houses in the Park facing Chatham street (Park Row) and lease
them for the sake of the revenue which the City might derive.
24
On another occasion it was proposed to erect a City Hos-
pital near the Bridewell, and the Corporation actually voted to
give the land for the purpose, but public sentiment was so
strongly opposed to the project that the action was rescinded.
At still another time, early in the last century, it was pro-
posed to erect a reservoir in the Park for the purpose of supply-
ing the City with water from the Bronx River.
In i8S8 the Legislature authorized a commission to select a
site in the neighborhood of the County Court-house for a Muni-
cipal building. The proposition to locate the building in the
City Hall Park was indignantly resented, and for several years,
as stated elsewhere (page 5), there was a "tug of war" be-
tween the Commission and the people. At one time the Com-
mission would get the advantage with a law permitting the
building in the Park. Then the remonstrants would prove the
stronger and drag the Commissioners from their ground by an
amendment excluding them from the Park. After several oscil-
lations of fortune, the protestants finally won and the Municipal
building was located where it is now in course of construction,
on the triangle at Centre street and Park Row.
Park Improvements
As the city grew in population and the structures erected
upon the old Common grew more pretentious, a natural desire
to improve the grounds gradually found expression until the
wild and uncultivated cow-pasture of colonial days became, just
before the Civil War, one of the most beautiful city parks in
America. Perhaps the first intimation of the increasing dignity
of the Common is afforded by Col. John Montresor's map of
1775, which entitles the Fields "The intended Square, or Com-
mon." The names of the Fields and the Common, however,
still continued in popular use at this period, with the occasional
use of the name Green. In June, 1785, appears the first move-
ment for the enclosure of the Fields with a fence In that
month the Common Council approved the plans of the Alms-
house Commissioners to that effect, " if it could be done without
expense to the Corporation." It is not surprising, perhaps, that
upon these economical terms the fence failed to materialize. In
1787 the improvement of the Green advanced a stage farther
when the Council ordered that the paupers in the Almshouse be
employed in collecting street dirt and spreading it on the Com-
25
mon in front of the Almshouse, to manure the ground and pre-
pare it for grass seed.
In 1792 the Fields were enclosed for the first time with a
fence of posts and rails. In 1797, when the structural encum-
brances of the Fields had been reduced to the second Alms-
house, the Gaol and the Bridewell, and when the Fields were
surrounded by a rail fence, the old Common first appears on the
map under the dignified title of " The Park."
Early in the last century the rail fence was superseded by
one of wooden palings, and then, as the civic pride increased,
nothing less than an imported iron fence would do. On Dec.
31, 1821, the iron railing for the Park arrived from England. In
order to avoid duty, it was complete only in parts. When the
fence was erected, it had at the southern gateway four marble
pillars surmounted by iron scroll-work supporting lanterns.
Coins and other mementoes were deposited in one of them. The
completion of the improvement was celebrated with public exer-
cises, including the delivery of an address by Dr. Samuel L.
Mitchill. Trees were then set out in the enclosure, and two
generous ladies — Mrs. Sages of their day — gave rose-bushes,
which were planted within the railings and which withstood the
frosts of winter, the vandalism of boys and the depredations of
flower-thieves for more than a year.
In 1832 the Superintendent of Buildings was directed to
cause the grass plats in the Park to be surrounded with iron
chains supported on turned locust posts; and in 1834 some of
the walks in front of the City Hall, from Broadway to Chatham
street, were laid with flag-stones two feet wide. When the
Croton Water Works were nearing completion, a beautiful foun-
tain was erected in the lower part of the Park. This portion of
the Park, now obliterated by the Post Ofiice, was then tastefully
laid out with gravel walks and adorned with trees. On Oct. 14,
1842, the climax was reached when, amid a celebration such as the
city had never before witnessed, and with demonstrations of joy-
ful popular enthusiasm seldom if ever excelled, the Croton water
arrived and gushed forth from the fountain. The procession on
this occasion, estimated to have been seven miles long, was re-
viewed at the Park by the Mayor and Aldermen. Here the water-
works were formally delivered to the city. A brilliant illumina-
tion in the evening ended the festivities. For days the great
fountain continued to be an object of extraordinary curiosity,
26
and for years it added grace and beauty to the supremest period
of this once beautiful Park. The fountain was so important a
feature of the Park at that time that a special office was created
for its care. Thus we read that, in 1848, for instance, Thomas
Cole was appointed "Keeper of the Park Fountain."
From this time on, until the sale of the Post Office site, the
Park was the object of minor improvements, such as the substi-
tution of iron posts for the entrance gates in 1852 to facilitate
ingress and egress, but nothing could be done materially to en-
hance its beauty. Then came the Post Office on the south and
the County Court-house on the north, and the Park was reduced
to its present disennobled proportions.
Historical Events — Aboriginal Period
Having now reviewed the history of the physical develop-
ment of the Park and its buildings, we may return to the begin-
ning and glance briefly at the history of the spot.
It has been surmised * that before the advent of Europeans
this was the site of one of the villages of the Manhattan Island In-
dians. The eligible situation of this comparatively level tract,
sloping downward on all sides — to the Lispenard Meadows and
swamps and the Fresh Water Pond on the north, the Beekman
swamps on the east, and the slightly lower land on the south
and west — would have made it a desirable location for a vil-
lage, and the finding of a large admixture of oyster shells of
apparent age in the soil would tend to indicate the presence
or proximity of aboriginal occupancy at some time; but there
is no positive evidence that there was a village here.
Historical Events— Dutch Period— 1626-1673
During the Dutch period the Common was one of the
parade grounds of the soldiers when they marched up from Fort
Amsterdam on training days.
In 1664, when the little city of New Amsterdam was cap-
tured by the English, the troops of the latter who remained in
the Bowery until the Dutch had evacuated the Fort, marched
down over this tract.
In 1673, when the Dutch fleet under Capt. Anthony Colve
arrived to repossess the City, the Dutch captain landed 600 men
on the Island and put them in battle array on the Common in
D. T. Valentine in the Corporation Manual for 1856.
27
preparation for the march on the Cit}^ which then lay below the
City Wall at Wall street. Capt. Manning, who commanded the
City, sent Capt. Carr, Thomas Lovelace and Thomas Gibbs to
negotiate terms with Colve, but the latter detained Lovelace and
Gibbs as hostages on the Common and sent Carr back to the fort
with a summons to surrender within a quarter of an hour. No
reply being received, Colve in a passion ordered his men to march
from the Common to the Fort. They proceeded down Broadway,
and as they approached the fort they were met by a messenger
from the English commander who offered to surrender if the
garrison were allowed to march out with the honors of war. The
request was granted and the city again changed hands.
Under the second Dutch regime the Common became the
place of general parade.
Historical Events — English Period, 1674 to 1765
Under the English the Common continued to be a popular
rallying place, particularly on festive occasions. This was more
especially the case after the old parade ground in front of the
fort was authorized in 1732 to be enclosed as a Bowling Green,
thus forming the first city park. On the Common, the King's
Birthday, the anniversary of the discovery of the Gunpowder
Plot, and other festive occasions were observed with bonfires
and other demonstrations of loyalty or joy. But the demonstra-
tions began to assume a different color in 1 764 when a press gang's
boat was seized by a mob who carried it to the Common and
burned it.
Another stirring event of that year was the arrest and incar-
ceration of Major Rogers of the King's troops in the New Gaol
The gallant Major had been cutting a pretty prominent figure in
the town, and living beyond his means, until his creditors became
tired of airy promises to pay and put him in prison. His com-
rades, stationed in the neighboring barracks, took his arrest as an
insult to His Majesty's arms and an infringement of their superior
authority, and demanded his release. The jailor shook his keys
contemptuously at the enraged soldiers, and told them, in effect
if not in words, that if they wanted their Major they would have
to come and get him. This they proceeded to do, breaking open
the jail doors with muskets and axes, releasing Rogers, and giving
the other prisoners an opportunity to escape. The latter, how-
ever, standing more in awe of the civil power than their riotous
28
and uninvited deliverers, declined to avail themselves of this
temporary and unauthorized amnesty and remained in prison.
The riot, which was finally quelled by the militia, cost the soldiers
the life of one of their Sergeants.
Historical Events— English Period, 1765 to 1775
The next year, made memorable by the adoption of the
Stamp Act, the Common became the stage upon which, in the
succeeding decade, were enacted many scenes which foreshadowed
the coming Revolution. On Nov. i, 1765, the first mass meeting
in opposition to the Stamp Act was held here, being signalized
by the erection of a gallows upon which the Lieutenant Gov-
ernor was burned in effigy. On the following day another popular
meeting was held with a view to seizing the stamps, but action
was deferred. From that time until the repeal of the Stamp Act
in March, 1766, other meetings of a similar character were held.
On June 4, 1766, a great meeting was held on the Common
to celebrate the repeal of the obnoxious act. The jubilant
populace erected a flagstaff inscribed "King, Pitt, and Liberty,"
and further manifested its joy by consuming a roast ox, 25 barrels
of ale, and a hogshead of rum punch.
For the peace of the community, however, it was not the
most fortunate thing that the Upper Barracks, in which the
King's troops were quartered, were so close to the rallying place
of the Liberty Boys, and after the Liberty Pole had been up a
little more than two months, the soldiers cut it down. Promptly
the next day (Aug. 11) a meeting was held on the Common to
erect another, but the soldiers attacked the people and wounded
several of them, and the attempt was deferred several days,
when another pole was successfully raised.
On Sept. 23, 1766, the second Liberty Pole was cut down by
unknown persons, but a third pole was erected two days later.
On March 18, 1767, the third pole was destroyed. The next day
a fourth pole was erected, secured by iron braces and bands
and watched by a citizens guard. On March 21 the soldiers
tried to destroy this emblem of liberty but were repulsed by the
citizens. On Dec. 17, 1767, a mass meeting was held on the
Common in opposition to the Mutiny Act.
So affairs continued until 1769-1770 when the Liberty Pole
contests culminated in the Battle of Golden Hill, which has
been called the first bloodshed of the Revolution.
29
In December, 1769, a handbill was printed and circulated,
addressed to the " betrayed inhabitants of the City and Colony
of New York," sharply reproving the Assembly for voting sup-
plies to the King's troops, accusing it of betraying the common
cause of Liberty, and inviting the citizens to meet at the liberty
pole in the Fields to express their sentiments. It was signed
" A Son of Liberty." The authorities were scandalized by the
handbill and sought its author. While the search was going
on, the soldiers, on Jan. 13, 1770, again attacked the Liberty Pole
but were repulsed. On Jan. 16, however, the soldiers succeeded
in felling the pole, sawing it up, and piling it in front of Mon-
tagnie's door, the headquarters of the Sons of Liberty, on
Broadway. On Jan. 17 upwards of 3,000 indignant citizens
assembled on the Common and erected another Liberty Pole.
This pole, strongly reinforced with iron, was surmounted by a
topmast and vane, the latter bearing the word "Liberty" in
large letters. On January 18 three soldiers were caught posting
on the Fly Market, at the foot of Maiden Lane, a scurrilous
placard impugning the character of the Sons of Liberty, and
signed " The Sixteenth Regiment of Foot." Several citizens, led
by Isaac Sears, took the soldiers before the Mayor. A number of
armed soldiers from the Fort demanded their release. The two
parties of citizens and soldiers moved tumultuously to Golden
Hill, about at John and William streets. Here the soldiers
turned and fired on the citizens, killing one, wounding three,
and injuring many others. Many of the soldiers were badly
beaten.
A sequence of the placard-posting was the arrest of Alex-
ander MacDougall. Through the confession of the printer, the
handbill of December, 1769, was traced to MacDougall, one of
the leading spirits of the Sons of Liberty, and he was cast into
the New Gaol in the Fields, as the Common was now called.
MacDougall's case was so similar to that of John Wilkes,
who had been imprisoned in England for a famous article on
individual liberty, printed in No. 45 of "The North Briton,"
that his friends adopted "45" as their cabalistic number.
Holt's Journal of February 15, 1770, records the following visit
of the " Forty-five " to MacDougall in his new quarters: "Yes-
terday, the forty-fifth day of the j'ear, forty-five gentlemen
friends of Captain MacDougall and the glorious cause of Ameri-
can Liberty, went in decent procession to the New Gaol and
30
dined with him on forty-five pounds of beaf steaks, cut from a
bullock forty-five months old." So great was the pressure of
MacDougall's callers that he had to establish regular reception
hours, and under date of the "New Gaol, February lo, 1770,"
he published a notice to his friends, stating that he would be
"glad of the honor of their company from three o'clock in the
afternoon until six." He was released on bail in April. During
the Revolutionary War he became a Major-General in the Conti-
nental Army, and at one time had command at West Point.
On March 26, 1770, the soldiers made an attempt to remove
the topmast and Liberty vane of the Liberty Pole and a contest
ensued between them and the citizens, but without fatal results.
On May lo a mass meeting was held in the Fields to oppose
the importation of English goods, and in June a quantity of
English wares seized by the Sons of Liberty were brought here
and burned.
On July 6, 1774, a great meeting was held in the Fields in
opposition to the act of Parliament known as the Boston Port
Bill, At this meeting one of New York's most distinguished
citizens, Alexander Hamilton, first appears as a public orator.
Hamilton was a student at old King's College (now Columbia
University) which stood two blocks west of the present City
Hall Park on a site indicated by a tablet at Murray street and
West Broadway. Irving, in his Life of Washington, referring
to Hamilton on this occasion, says: "Hamilton was present,
and, prompted by his excited feelings and the instigation of
youthful companions, ventured to address the multitude. The
vigor and maturity of his intellect, contrasted with his youthful
appearance, won the admiration of his auditors; even his
diminutive size gave additional effect to his eloquence."
On Sunday, April 23, 1775, a travel-stained horseman
dashed down the old Post Road, past the Common, and to the
center of the city, spreading the news of the Battle of Lexing-
ton. The crisis in the affairs of the colonies had come, the
loyal citizens at once took measures for enlisting soldiers, and a
Citizens Committee assumed the government of the city. On
May 26 the Asia man-of-war arrived and the Royal Irish Regi-
ment remaining in the Upper Barracks on the Common evacu-
ated their quarters and withdrew to the ship on June 6, 1775.
In doing so, they attempted to remove five cart-loads of spare
arms. At Broad and Beaver streets they were boldly halted
31
by Marinus Willett and others, deprived of the five carts con-
taining the arms, and were then permitted to embark without
further molestation.
Historical Events — Revolutionary Period — 1776-1783
With the evacuation of Boston by the British on March 17,
1776, and the transfer of the seat of war to New York, the Fields
became the camp-ground and the drilling place of the Ameri-
cans,
The Americans at once set themselves actively at work for-
tifying the cit)' and barricading the streets. The Fields were
almost completely hemmed in with fortifications, every avenue
of approach being guarded. At St. Paul's Church there were tv/o
barricades at right angles to each other one extending across
Broadway and one across the front of the church-yard. Other
barriers extended across the heads of Barcla}'^, Robinson (now
Park Place) and Murray streets. On the Chatham street side
a barricade was erected across the head of Beekman street ;
another, right-angular in form, was in the present Printing
House Square, one face commanding George (now Spruce)
street, the other commanding the Presbyterian Church Yard (on
the south side of the Square) and Nassau street ; another con-
fronted Frankfort street ; another, forming an obtuse angle,
occupied Chatham street in front of the present World Building;
and another long one extended from the site of the Brooklyn
Bridge entrance diagonally across Chatham street to the upper
eastern end of the Barracks on Chambers street.
A notable figure in the history of the Park at this period
was Alexander Hamilton, who, in March, 1776, became Captain
of artillery in a newly raised provincial corps. It was while
exercising his company here that he became the object of one of
those interesting concurrences of events which oftentimes mark
the turning point, not only in individual careers, but also in the
course of historic events. We can best describe this occurrence,
which brought together Hamilton and Washington and which
had a profound influence on the future of both men and the
cause of Independence itself, by quoting Irving. Speaking of
the middle of the year 1776, he says:
" About this time we have the first appearance in the military
ranks of the Revolution of one destined to take an active and
distinguished part in public affairs and to leave the impress of
32
his genius on the institutions of the country. As General
Greene one day, on his way to Washington's headquarters, was
passing through a field — then on the outskirts of the city, now
in the heart of its busiest quarter and known as the Park — he
paused to notice a provincial company of artillery, and was
struck with its able performances and with the tact and talent of
its commander. He was a mere youth, apparently about 20
years of age ; small in person and stature, but remarkable for
his alert and manly bearing. It was Alexander Hamilton. Greene
was an able tactician and quick to appreciate any display of
military science ; a little conversation sufficed to convince him
that the youth before him had a mind of no ordinary grasp and
quickness. He invited him to his quarters and from that time
cultivated his friendship. . . . Further acquaintance height-
ened the General's opinion of his extraordinary merits and he
took an early occasion to introduce him to the Commander-in-
Chief."
It may truly be said that City Hall Park was the birthplace
of Hamilton's public career.
The Park was also the scene of another historic event which
alone should have dedicated it forever to the cause of Liberty in
the hearts of the citizens of New York. That was the reading
here of the Declaration of Independence on the receipt of that
immortal document on the 9th of July, 1776. Washington had
given orders that the Declaration be read to the several brigades
quartered in and about the city at 6 o'clock that evening. Ac-
cording to the relation of an eye-witness to the historian Henry
B. Dawson, the brigade encamped on the Fields was drawn up
in a hollow square on the southern part of the Park, now occu-
pied by the Post Office, and the Declaration was read by one of
the aids of Washington, the Commander-in-Chief himself being
present.
In August occurred the Battle of Long Island and in Sep-
tember the Americans evacuated New York, and for seven long
years not a Continental soldier was seen in the Fields except as
a prisoner of war. In the latter capacity nearly 4,000 American
troops fell into British hands as the result of the Battle of
Long Island (Aug. 27) and the Battle of Fort Washington (Nov.
16). The Gaol and Bridewell in the Fields were filled to their
utmost capacity, and churches, sugar houses, the old City
Hall, the King's College, private dwellings and prison ships
were brought into requisition to accommodate the rest. The
Gaol in the Fields was reserved for the more notorious " rebels,'
33
and the memory of the sufferings which the Continental soldiers
endured under the inhuman Provost Marshal, Wm. Cunning-
ham, adds still further to the sacred character of this historic
place. The Gaol was now called the Provost.
Cunningham's figure is one of the most repulsive in the
history of the war. He was a corrupt, hard-hearted and cruel
tyrant, who hesitated at nothing that would add to the miseries
of his helpless victims or to his own wealth and comfort. His
hatred for the Americans found vent in the application of torture
with searing-irons and secret scourges to those of his charges
who, for any reason, fell under the ban of his displeasure. His
prisoners were crowded so closely into their pens that their
health was broken by partial asphyxiation ; and many of them
were starved to death for want of food which the Provost Mar-
shal had sold to enrich his own purse. The abused prisoners
were refused permission to see their nearest relatives and were
allowed to suffer unattended when ill. They were given muddy
water to drink, although beautifully clear water was obtainable
from neighboring springs ; and a prisoner's weekly ration was
restricted to two pounds of hard tack and two pounds of raw
salt pork, with no means of cooking it.
An admission to this Bastille, with its known and unknown
horrors, was enough to appall the stoutest heart. Henry Onder-
donk, Jr., in a contribution to Valentine's Manual for 1849,
says:
"The northeast chamber, turning to the left on the second
floor, was appropriated to officers and characters of superior
rank, and was called Congress Hall. So closely were they
packed that when they lay down at night to rest (when their
bones ached) on the hard oak planks and they wished to turn, it
was altogether, by word of command, ' Right-Left,' the men
being so wedged as to form almost a solid mass of human bod-
ies. In the day time the packs and blankets of the prisoners
were suspended around the walls, every precaution being taken
to keep the rooms ventilated and the walls and floors clean to
prevent jail fever."
" In this gloomy abode were incarcerated at different peri-
ods many American officers and citizens of distinction, awaiting,
with sickening hope, the protracted period of their liberation.
Could these dumb walls speak, what scenes of anguish might
they not disclose! The Captain and his Deputy were enabled
to fare sumptuously by dint of curtailing the prisoners' rations,
exchanging good for bad provisions, and other embezzlements.
In the drunken orgies that usually terminated his dinners, Cun-
34
ningham would order tlie rebel prisoners to turn out and parade
for the amusement of his guests, pointing them out with such
characterizations as, ' This is the d d rebel, Ethan Allen,'
'This is a rebel judge,' etc."
In the allusion to Allen we recognize the presence of the
celebrated patriot who had captured Ticonderoga, " in the name
of the great Jehovah and the Continental Congress." After
taking the Lake Champlain stronghold he had joined the expe-
dition against Montreal, and been captured on September 25,
1775. He was taken to England, thence to Halifax, and in the
autumn of 1776 was brought to New York, where he was at first
allowed the freedom of the city on his parole. Here he was
subjected to every persuasion by General Howe to induce him
to desert the American cause and serve the King. He was
offered a commission in the King's army and promised large
tracts of land in Vermont at the close of the war; but his loyalty
to the Colonies was so true that he indignantly rejected all
attempts to purchase his integrity, and his confidence in the out-
come of the struggle for independence was so strong that he
openly predicted his Majesty's inability to fulfill his promises in
regard to the land.
It may readily be imagined that the failure of these persua-
sions to move the steadfast patriot did not tend to ingratiate
him in the favor of his captors, and in January, 1777, they
clapped him into jail on the charge (which he stoutly denied) of
having broken his parole.
Allen was just the sort of " rebel " whom Cunningham liked
to have in his clutches, and he was promptly assigned to a soli-
tary dungeon, without bread or water for three days. Then he
was given a bit of fat pork and a hard biscuit with which to
break his fast.
Allen grew restive under his confinement, and evidently
considered himself neglected by his friends, as appears in a
letter from Joseph Webb to Governor Jonathan Trumbull of
Connecticut ("Brother Jonathan "), arranging for an exchange
of prisoners. " Ethan Allen begs me to represent his situation to
you," wrote Webb, " that he has been a most attached friend to
America; and he says he's forgot; he's spending his life, his
very prime, and is confined in the Provost, and they say for
breaking his parole," etc. In May, 1778, he was exchanged for
Colonel Campbell of the British army.
35
Major Otho Holland Williams was another unfortunate
confined in the Provost.
It is impossible to relate all the dark deeds done by the
inhuman Cunningham during the seven years in which he had
charge of the Gaol, or recount a tithe of the suffering therein
endured by those whohad championed the cause of American inde-
pendence, for no records were preserved, and the greater part of
the dramatic and pathetic history of that period of the building's
existence is known only to Him " from whom no secrets are hid."
But enough is known to make the site of the building one ever
to be held in sacred remembrance.
The war at length came to an end, and on November 25,
1783, the British evacuated New York. Most of the city prisons
had been emptied before the close of hostilities, but the Provost
was continued in use until Evacuation Day.
"I was in New York November 25," wrote General Johnson,
"and at the Provost about 10 o'clock a. m., when an American
guard relieved the British guard, which joined a detachment of
British troops then on parade in Broadway, and marched down
to the Battery, where they embarked for England,"
It is chronicled that as the Deputy O'Keefe was about to
depart, the prisoners called out asking what was to become of
them.
" You may go to the devil," was the reply.
"Thank you," rejoined one of the prisoners, "we have had
enough of your company in this world."
It would, in a measure, appease one's sense of justice if the
reported fate of the inhuman Provost Marshal could be con-
firmed. It is stated with a degree of precision that, having been
convicted of forgery — an offence v»?hich would appear to have
been more serious in English estimation than the torture and
murder of helpless prisoners — he was hanged in London August
10, 1791. But there is no official confirmation of this, or of the
^' dying confession" which he is said to have made in the follow-
ing words :
" I was appointed Provost Marshal to the Royal Army,
which placed me in a situation to wreak vengeance on the
Americans. I shudder to think of the murders I have been
accessory to, both with and without orders from the Govern-
ment, especially while we were in New York, during which time
there were more than 2,000 prisoners starved in the churches by
stopping their rations, which I sold. There were also 275
36
American prisoners and obnoxious persons executed, which
were thus conducted : A guard was dispatched from the
Provost about half-past 12 o'clock at night to the Barrack street,
and the neighborhood of the Upper Barracks, to order the
people to shut their window shutters and put out their lights,
forbidding them at the same time to look out of their windows
and doors on pain of death ; after which the unfortunate prison-
ers were conducted, gagged, just behind the Upper Barracks,
and hung without ceremony, and there buried by the black
pioneer of the Provost,"
Whether or no the foregoing ever proceeded from Cunning-
ham's lips, there is only too much reason to believe that it repre-
sents the truth.
Historical Events— War of 1812-1815
Hardly had the new City Hall been completed when the
declaration of the second war with Great Britain again made
the Park the scene of stirring patriotic events. The news of the
declaration of war reached New York on June 20, 1812, and at
noon on the 24th a great public meeting was held in the Park to
take the matter under consideration. The venerable Col.
Henry Rutgers, an old Revolutionary officer, presided, and Col.
Marinus Willett, one of the Sons of Liberty and also a Revolu-
tionary hero, was Secretary. The Act of Congress and the
President's proclamation having been read, a preamble and
resolutions supporting the Government were read. The pre-
amble began:
" In one of those awful and interesting moments with which
it has pleased Heaven that states and kingdoms should be
visited, we consider ourselves convoked to express our calm,
decided and animated opinion on the conduct or our Govern-
ment."
The preamble continued in this impressive manner, and
was followed by resolutions approving of the efforts of the
Government to preserve peace, but declaring the belief that the
crisis had arrived when peace could no longer be retained with
honor — and justifying the Government's appeal to arms. The
appeal now being made to the sword, the meeting called upon
all fellow-citizens to yield the Government their undivided sup-
port. "Placing our reliance in the Most High," said the last
resolution, "and soliciting his benediction on our just cause,
we pledge to our Government, in support of our beloved
country, 'our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor.' "
37
Two years later (August 21, 1814), when the city was
threatened with attack, the people again assembled in the Park
to renew their pledges. Col. Rutgers again presided. Oliver
Wolcott was Secretary. They sat on the balcony of the City
Hall. Dr. Samuel L. Mitchill, Dr. VV. J. McNeven, and Messrs.
Wolcott, Riker, Anthony, Bleecker and Sampson were appointed
to draft resolutions, and those which they presented had the
same ring as those of 1812. Col. Willett was also there and
addressed the assemblage with patriotic fervor. " Three score
and fourteen years," he said, "have brought with them some
bodily infirmities. Had it been otherwise, and had my strength
of body remained as unimpaired as my love for my country and
the spirit that still animates me, you would not, my friends,
have seen me here today. I should have been amongst that
glorious band that on the waters of Erie and Ontario have
achieved so much fame and lasting glory for their country. . . .
Fifty years ago I was at a meeting of citizens on this Green.
Then the acclamation was 'Join or die!' The unanimity of that
day procured the repeal of some obnoxious laws." Then he
ran over the events leading up to the Revolution, and events of
the war itself; and continued: "In the War of the Revolution
it was a favorite toast: 'May every citizen be a soldier, and
every soldier a citizen.' Our citizens must now again become
soldiers, and those soldiers good citizens. ... As to this mis-
taken idea that American militia are unequal to the contest
with British regulars, I am a living witness to the contrary. I
have met them when their numbers were double mine and I
have routed and pursued them."
One cannot read the whole of the speech from which the
foregoing words have been taken without thrilling and feeling
that the lofty sentiments expressed at that crisis still further
dedicated the Park with very sacred traditions to the genera-
tions which have come after.
On October 23, 1814, Gov. D. D. Tompkins, Commander-in-
Chief of the New York Militia and, by appointment by the Pres-
ident, in command of the Third Military District of the United
States, made his headquarters in the City Hall, and during the
remainder of that critical period the City Hall and Park were
the base from which the military operations in this neighborhood
were conducted.
38
Historical Events Between the Wars — 1815-1861
During the period between the War of 1812-15 and the Civil
War, City Hall Park was the focus of almost every festive dem-
onstration of a public character that occurred in the city. Among
these the Independence Day celebrations were notable events.
Here was the culmination of the Fourth of July Parade, which
was composed of the militia and civic societies and which gen-
erally formed at the Battery, and here the procession was reviewed
by the Mayor and Aldermen and dismissed with a feu de joie.
For many years it was customary on the eve of Fourth of
July to erect around the Park booths where roast pig, eggnog,
cider and spruce beer were among the viands dispensed. On
June 29, 1841, a vote was taken in the Board of Aldermen on the
proposition to refuse permits for the erection of these booths, but
the custom had such a firm hold that the motion was lost and the
practice was continued for a few years longer before it was
abolished.
Besides these Fourth of July celebrations, many other inter-
esting events occurred at this place. Here Lafayette was given
a brilliant reception on Aug. 16, 1824 ; here was the focus of the
land celebration of the opening of the Erie Canal on Nov. 24, 1825 ;
here was the center of the Croton Water celebration Oct. 14, 1842;
here the laying of the Atlantic cable was celebrated in August,
1858, by an illumination of the City Hall from which the building
caught fire ; from here the funeral of Gen. Wm. J. Worth took
place Nov. 25, 1857; and here in i860 the Prince of Wales, now
Edward VH of England, was received with great ceremony.
These are only a few of the ceremonies which, during the period
mentioned, marked City Hall Park as the civic center of the City.
An occurrence of less agreeable aspect was the riot precipi-
tated by Mayor Fernando Wood in 1857. In that year the
charter was amended and the Metropolitan Police system estab-
lished having jurisdiction over the counties of New York, Kings,
Westchester and Richmond. Mayor Wood refused to accede to
the new system and, gathering the old police force around him,
defied the Metropolitan Police and threatened with violence those
who attempted to get the offices in their control. When Daniel
D. Conover was appointed Street Commissioner by Gov. King,
Mayor Wood drove him from the City Hall. Conover secured
a warrant for Wood's arrest and proceeded to execute it with the
aid of fifty Metropolitan police. Arriving at the City Hall he
39
found it closed against him and filled with armed policemen of
the old force. A conflict ensued. The Mayor had the sympathy
of the worst class of the population and a mob gathered for his
support. A bloody riot ensued. Just at this juncture the Sev-
enth Regiment came down Broadway, en route to embark on a
steamboat for a trip to Boston. It stopped long enough to sup-
port the Metropolitan Police in enforcing order and serving the
warrant, and then continued on its way. But the spirit of defi-
ance of the law thus encouraged by Mayor Wood was aroused
and broke out in other parts of the city in bloody riots, which
were not quelled until six persons had been killed and a hundred
wounded.
Historical Events— Civil War Period, 1861-1865
With the outbreak of the Civil War the Park again became
the scene of martial activit3\ In the very first month of the
war, in April, 1861, the Common Council passed a resolution
authorizing the State authorities to erect a building in the Park
for barracks and to provide an eating place for volunteers. In
February, 1862, when the Common Council directed the removal
of all tents and booths from the public parks, the barracks in
City Hall Park were specifically excepted. From time to time
during the war permits were granted for the erection of recruit-
ing tents.
Our Cradle of Liberty
In bringing to a conclusion this very imperfect sketch, the
words of Henry B. Dawson, the historian, concerning this
storied Park, may be quoted with as much force today as when
he uttered them 55 years ago:
" It must not be forgotten that the Park is still the refuge
of the people. . . . Here they have met La Fayette and
other friends of freedom and their country, making the welkin
ring with their joyous shouts; and here they have mingled their
tears over the memory of Jackson, Clay and other departed
worthies. On all occasions, whether of joy or sorrow, of pros-
perity or calamity, of welcome or of separation, the Park is now,
as it ever has been, the resort of the people. Nor does it possess
much less interest to others than to us. The past — the common
property of all — shows the Park to have been the Faneuil of New
York, the cradle in which the much-lauded ' cradle of liberty '
in Boston was itself rocked in its infantile years."
40
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